While people are busy scurrying on the street or online looking for that perfect post “Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal” I ask myself, “How ready is the typical American (let alone the typical American Christian) for an economic collapse? The answer is: Not at all. We as a nation have not learned ANYTHING from the collapse in 2008.

In fact, we plunged ourselves deeper into debt. From a 7 year car loans that when you drive the car off the lot you are already “underwater” in your loan terms. To student loan debt collectively equating to north of 1 trillion dollars – with no job prospects in sight since the true unemployment rate is north of 20%. It seems to me that America as a whole has embraced the adage: “Eat, Drink, and Be Merry, for tomorrow we die.” Little that she knows that she has been bingeing in the 4th watch of the night – just before the new day dawns. When this day finally does “dawn”, so will the revelation that the party’s over and that the “piper” will have his hand outstretched for “payment.” It will be Day One of economic slavery in America. A day where some have laughed at people to scorn in mockery to those whose saw the signs and have prepared accordingly. In other words, the “Zombie Apocalypse” has arrived.

Please keep in mind the term “Apocalypse” simply means revelation. This will be a multi-faceted revelation. An economic revelation. A political revelation. A moral revelation. A spiritual revelation. We as a nation can not be doing wrong things and not expect a backlash from our activities. Case in point:

You can’t expect Social Security to continue when you kill 70 million future payers over a 40 year period.

You can’t expect a nation to be politically free when its own government sacrifice 3000 of their countrymen to restrict the movement of 300 million people.

You can’t expect a culture to survive when lines between right and wrong – from math and language to identification of what is male and female in a society are blurred.

You can’t expect the spirit of a nation to live when those who have been commissioned with the task of preserving it (the American Church) have largely neglected their duty through apathy or silence in the pulpit.

We are racing toward the end of an era. An era that looks more like end of Rome than that of a God-fearing country. There is not much time left. You need to get your “houses” in order: Economic, political, moral, but above all your spiritual house needs to be in order. Whether you believe in eternity or not, it is there – and it is waiting for you. With each passing day you are one day closer to meeting with eternity and most importantly, the Creator of it.

Since 2010, most people in America – if not the world, has heard of the television show “The Walking Dead”. A show about a sheriff getting shot and going into a coma. When he awakes, he has discovered his world has been overrun with flesh-eating zombies. How appropriate this show is at this time in our culture. We as Americans act a little more alert than the zombies being portrayed on our TV screens. Consider this:

We have a 18 TRILLION dollar national debt – with a 30 BILLION dollar interest payment PER MONTH.

We have corporations such as Citgroup and JP Morgan Chase writing our laws instead of Congress (see Dodd-Frank reform law)

We have a complicit media who spews out propaganda instead of broadcasting the truth.

We have allowed our “Civil Servants” to become career politicians drunk on their own power thereby morphing themselves into an oligarchical class.

We have allowed our countrymen to don our military’s uniform not to serve in the nation’s best interest; Rather they are being used as political pawns in a sick game of “chess” to which they come home injured, maimed, or in body bags.

and what is the nation’s response? “Did you see what Kanye West did at the Grammy Awards?”

While not being a fan of the show (I never watched a single episode), the one thing I can conclude is that in order to survive, you must be prepared. As I have eluded to in my last entry “Warnings Came Before Destruction” which you can read here, this next event that’s coming will be one of war. Not just of armed conflict, but of resources: food, water, shelter, money, oil, gas, and other commodities. People not only in America, but across the globe will be divided into two camps: Those who have resources and those who don’t. Both camps will have one thing in common: CHOICE. Each individual will make a choice based on the information they receive or ignore. Succinctly put, where you are and the resources you have will be the culmination of your choices. You will not have no one to blame but yourself if you choose to ignore the warning, not prepare and think that life will go on as “normal.”

To those who believe in the Rapture, I challenge you openly: What assurances do you have through the Canon of Scripture that the Rapture will come FIRSTand not the financial collapse? Please leave your analysis in comments section below. To those who made the choice to survive, congratulations you made the decision to prepare, aid and defend yourself, your family and your countrymen.

As a watchman, my job is to give people warnings to prepare for the destruction that’s coming (see Ezekiel 33:6) Warnings are not just spiritual or political. They are practical as well. While you may have heard our spiritual “leaders” call for a return to prayer and repentance – using II Chronicles 7:14 as “backdrop”, there is a practical side to preparation as well. I believe that preparation has not just one but three sides to it. I call it PSA:

1) Pray Up.

2) Stock Up.

3) Arm Up.

When I say pray up I mean make sure you have a right relationship with God. That if there is unconfessed sin that it is between you and the Holy Spirit to deal with it and get rid of it. That is not say that Pastoral or Elder counsel is not needed. It is to say that since the Holy Spirit does lead and guide into all truth, let Him lead you in that direction also.

To stock up does not mean you cling on to Philippians 4:19 and do nothing. In any relationship there is a partnership. In this case, you do your part and God does His. What is your part? Again by the leading of the Holy Spirit, you make provision for you and your family to survive the impending danger. This may mean buying some extra canned food, some water, soap, or any other day to day needs that the purpose is to get you through the “storm” that’s coming. This means also – if you can afford to, buy some gold or silver in the event paper currency may become worthless or unavailable.

Lastly, to arm up means simply that. You take on the responsibility to defend yourself, your family and your home from anyone intending to do you harm. While prayer should be you first line of defense, it should not be your only one. For those who believe that prayer alone is only thing that is needed to defend what God has entrusted to you, you will be rudely and sadly awakened to the sin saturated world we live in. (Ferguson, MO. anyone?)

This being said it does not mean that I negate or ignore the Rapture of the Church. However, as sure as I am of the financial collapse that will befall America and thereby reduce this nation to a third world nation status, I am equally sure of the following three things that the Rapture and the collapse of the American economy have in common:

1) BOTH events are eminent. You can’t pray, fast or wish them away. They are coming and you can’t stop them.

2) BOTH events will arrive without warning. Neither event needs a precursor event to happen.

3) No human being on the planet (including your Pastor) knows which event will happen FIRST. So why be prepared for one event and NOT the other?

In this holiday season we have many things to be thankful for. Among these is to be thankful to those who would risk it all to tell you the truth and get prepared for the danger that is to come.

In my last post I stated, “You don’t know what you have until it’s gone”. We are about to see this occur. Our freedoms have been incrementally taken away in the name of “security”. We have cameras at nearly every traffic intersection in America. They’re not for the apprehension of criminals, as they are for the monitor and tracking of law-abiding citizens. The “Boys in Blue” (TSA) scan your documents as to know who you are and what flight you’re on (4th Amendment anyone?) The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) established a “Free Speech Zone” near the Bundy Ranch (1st Amendment destroyed). Our currency continues to be devalued – costing more for less goods and services. All of this is going on and what is the Church in America’s reaction? “Whatever”.

Why? Because “God wants us to be happy” according to Victoria Osteen. There is a technical term to describe this condition: Apathy. We suffer from this as a people because our Pastors are “infected” with this “disease”. Forget Ebola. This ailment will kill a nation faster than any organic pathogen. It is more subtle than any microbe. I documented this three years ago in my post “Does All Roads Really Lead Back to Rome?”

While it is true that God is Sovereign and in control, there is a cost of stewardship and even higher cost for apathy. When you are intellectually honest with yourself, you will understand why Jesus Himself calls us “sheep”. Sheep are not independent creatures. To the contrary, they are arguably the most dependent, group think, self-driven creatures on the planet. This is precisely the reason why the sheep need a “shepherd”. Unfortunately, Pastors in America have not only taken the title of shepherd too seriously, some have gone on to think that they are God, telling people what to think, not how to think. Building their “kingdom” on Earth, when receiving no authority in Heaven.

A day of reckoning is coming for the world in general, but for America in particular, that day will be severely harsh. For those days will like something out of “Mad Max” and Resident Evil”. There will be a war for resources – physical and spiritual, since we will see a financial collapse in the nation. Because we as a nation love money more than God, God will give us what love. Since we as a nation have “thumbed our noses” at God for His protection, pestilence will be released in this land like it has never been seen. The United States will no longer be united and will disintegrate into third world like “tribal” factions.

The rose-colored glasses will finally be removed from the nation’s face and we will see clearly what have we become. In this act of self-realization, some will ask themselves the question, “How did we get here?” It will be then that they will recall the emotionally charged, yet Biblical and practical empty words of their Pastor. It will make them so incensed that they will resolve to locate the Pastor and give him “a piece of their mind”. Alas, when you arrived at the church, you will find the doors locked. The Pastor unable to be located and a long line of people who are in front of you wanting to do the same thing.

So what do we do? While your church may want keep praying II Chronicles 7:14, you may want to look at I Peter 4:17. Moreover, you may get the nerve to put in your Pastor’s face Ezekiel 33:6. It is this last Scripture, why we have apathy in this nation. The prosperity and posterity of a nation comes the spiritual house being in order. Until that is restored, be prepared to live in “Thunderdome”

“You don’t know what you have until it’s gone” the saying goes. This is applicable in all aspects of life. Whether it’s your car, your house, your job, even your spouse and children. It also includes our time and our money. The point is that those things that are cherished are also valued, and all things that valued are also stewarded…and stewardship has a cost associated with it.

However, the most overlooked thing that we possess is our rights. Yet it is the least mentioned not only in daily conversation, it is also the most frequently absent from when we gather at church. Why? The answer runs the gamut from, “Separation of Church and State” to “We only talk about Jesus here” to “God’s in control, so I don’t to worry about that.” It is that last statement that is the most troublesome. Why? In order to answer it, must find out the original intent of the Founding Fathers. What did the Founders state in our Declaration of Independence?:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Those of us who remember “Schoolhouse Rock” remember the first part of this quote. However, it is the rest of the quote that needs to be focused on. “That to securethese rights governments are instituted by men, deriving (or getting) their powers from the consentof the governed.” The document specifically says men, not God are to secure these rights and that any power government receives, it is by our consent, not His sovereign will. This directly speaks of stewardship. Thankfully, the document addresses the other side of the equation also: “That wheneverany Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute newGovernment…” No where does it mention “God’s Will”. That doesn’t mean that God is not sovereign. He can do whatever He chooses to do. However, what He is looking for I believe, is us who bear His image and likeness of His Son, to step up and change our nation so that it will model His kingdom.

This is NOTa call to theocracy. However, it is a call to a Biblical worldview in our government, which addresses the last part of the quote: “Laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” When the Founders said “laying the foundations”, what did they mean? That can be found in the first part of the paragraph: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This specifically addresses where does your rights come from.

So the stewardship of our rights has a cost associated with it. The next question is who will pay the price? You or those after you?